Sometimes you just can't win

Oscar
Site Admin
Posts: 76
Joined: 19 Nov 2012, 10:39
Location: Adelaide

Sometimes you just can't win

Postby Oscar » 16 Jan 2015, 18:35

So I go to dig out both of my LF cameras for an upcoming project, and find that they've both got mechanical problems. Neither is a showstopper, but it's certainly annoying!

The Crown Graphic has a displaced hinge on the focus track which prevents a full range of focusing. (I'll need to get the right tool to extract the pin so I can fix this properly.) And the Sinar F2 has a broken (?) height adjustment mechanism on the rear standard.

The Graphic is something that I should be able to fix myself, but the F2 might need a replacement component :(

Time's like this I'd like a nice simple wooden field camera...

Walter Glover
Posts: 1270
Joined: 31 Jul 2012, 22:31
Location: Leichhardt, NSW

Re: Sometimes you just can't win

Postby Walter Glover » 16 Jan 2015, 20:49

Oscar wrote:but the F2 might need a replacement component :(.

Call David Kay at Capture Scan Print during business hours on 02 9873 1579 and he may be able to help.

I'd have thought that your Crown Graphic is a simple wooden camera (covered in leatherette?)
Walter Glover

"We see things not as they are. We see them as we are."
Emanuel Kant

Oscar
Site Admin
Posts: 76
Joined: 19 Nov 2012, 10:39
Location: Adelaide

Re: Sometimes you just can't win

Postby Oscar » 17 Jan 2015, 07:44

Walter Glover wrote:
Oscar wrote:but the F2 might need a replacement component :(.

Call David Kay at Capture Scan Print during business hours on 02 9873 1579 and he may be able to help.

Thanks, I'll do that.

I'd have thought that your Crown Graphic is a simple wooden camera (covered in leatherette?)

I meant that the fancy folding rail mechanism is what's let me down, a camera without that might be less trouble :)

Walter Glover
Posts: 1270
Joined: 31 Jul 2012, 22:31
Location: Leichhardt, NSW

Re: Sometimes you just can't win

Postby Walter Glover » 17 Jan 2015, 08:56

Hi Oscar,

To the side of your immediate dilemma, let me say that over the decades I have owned and used (commercially and recreationally) many Sinars. F2s, P2s, 4x5, 5x7 and 8x10. For technical control of the image elements nothing comes close to the ease of precise setting as the Sinars, on one proviso: FIRST YOU HAVE TO GET THE KIT TO THE PICTURE. Very at home in the studio on a giant Foba stand but on location it is kit best suited to working with assistants.

To that end, I have always sought out something more pack-animal friendly and, through costly experience, have drawn some conclusions.

Just recently I acquired a Shen Hao TZ-whatever. It was with me a week and I sold it. Bellows draw and rigidity were my major issues. And although the camera could be carried with the support stuff like meter, lenses and film in a shoulder bag, I was really surprised a the weight of the camera. It was about line ball with Linhofs I have owned and cursed.

I am waiting for the year to get started commercially and I think I am going to solve all my problems in one fell swoop: I am seriously looking at a 4x5 Chamonix. I have had a fiddle with one and shot some tests and I really quite liked it, despite there being none of the sort of precise setting of the Swiss behemoth.

It does fold but has a carbon fibre block with an internal rack and pinion to focus. It seems immensely smart and exrtremely well finished.

Just saying to have a look around.

Cheers, and welcome,
Walter Glover

"We see things not as they are. We see them as we are."
Emanuel Kant

Oscar
Site Admin
Posts: 76
Joined: 19 Nov 2012, 10:39
Location: Adelaide

Re: Sometimes you just can't win

Postby Oscar » 17 Jan 2015, 11:51

I'm predominantly a MF shooter, so that's my comfort zone.

But for LF, my intention was to use the F2 for anything more "technical" eg architecture or studio, and the Graflex as a large and fun point-and-shoot. However neither is much good for landscapes, so I'm tempted to find a nice 4x5 or 8x10 field camera for that.

Fortunately I'm not using these professionally; my LF efforts are intended for the occasional exhibition. So far all my paying photography has been with smaller formats.

Oscar
Site Admin
Posts: 76
Joined: 19 Nov 2012, 10:39
Location: Adelaide

Re: Sometimes you just can't win

Postby Oscar » 18 Jan 2015, 18:10

Fortunately, I'm now feeling a bit less negative; my Graflex is now fixed.

I didn't have the right kind of tiny tools to fix the track hinge myself, nor did a more mechanically minded friend. But I ended up getting the problem fixed by a vet that I know! They had a good assortment of tiny tools as well as much better surgical dexterity for that kind of thing, so it's all good now. The only downside was that I then had to explain why people still bother with film, and why bother using LF, but I'm sure we've all had those kinds of conversations :roll:

I still need to fix or replace the rear standard on my F2, but it's not a show-stopper. I've done a few test shots with it over this weekend, and it's all good as long as I don't try to raise the rear standard.

So I'm now a bit happier than with my first post :)


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